Milk Leptin Surge and Biological Rhythms of Leptin and Other Regulatory Proteins in Breastmilk

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 17;10(12):e0145376. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145376. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

A significant number of chronic diseases are linked to perinatal nutrition, and prevention may be associated to naturally occurring components of breast milk. One key hormone in breast milk is leptin, related with the protection from obesity in the adulthood, thus knowing its changes through the day or lactation is crucial. We aimed to investigate the daily rhythms in the milk levels of leptin, together with other two related hormones, ghrelin and adiponectin, during lactation (days 5, 10 and 15) in rat dams, and the relation with morphometric parameters (dams and pups). Summarizing the main results, the existence of biological rhythms, but not daily and maybe circasemidian, was confirmed for the three hormones at the earliest period of lactation. The correlations performed generally showed a possible dependence of milk hormone levels on plasma levels at the early phase of lactation, while with the progression of lactation this dependence may fade and the hormone levels are suggested to be more dependent on mammary gland production/maturation. There was also a correlation between milk leptin and adiponectin levels, especially in the first half of lactation, suggesting a possible parallel regulation. Interestingly, we describe a milk leptin surge around the mid of lactation (at day 10) which may be related with pup's growth (males and females) and with the well-known (in the literature) plasma leptin surge in pups. All this knowledge may be crucial for future applications in the development of formula milk and in relation with the role of leptin surge during lactation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adiponectin / analysis*
  • Adiponectin / blood
  • Animals
  • Animals, Suckling
  • Circadian Rhythm*
  • Female
  • Ghrelin / analysis*
  • Ghrelin / blood
  • Lactation
  • Leptin / analysis*
  • Leptin / blood
  • Male
  • Milk / chemistry*
  • Milk / metabolism
  • Rats
  • Rats, Wistar

Substances

  • Adiponectin
  • Ghrelin
  • Leptin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Government (project EPIMILK, AGL2012-33692, Principal Investigator AP). YN received a grant by "Agencia Española de Cooperación y Desarrollo" of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (http://www.aecid.es/es). MA received a grant by the University of the Balearic Islands (www.uib.es). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.